ARTICLES ABOUT SPECIAL FORCES BY DATE - PAGE 2

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States recently sent a small number of special forces soldiers to Jordan to train with counterparts from Iraq and Jordan, a new step in the Obama administration's effort to help Baghdad stamp out a resurgent al Qaeda threat, a U.S. defense official said on Friday. The U.S. contingent was dispatched to take part in a training exchange with counterterrorism forces from Iraq and Jordan, allowing the administration to provide a modest new measure of support to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

BENGHAZI, Libya Jan 30 (Reuters) - Gunmen kidnapped the son of the Libyan army's special forces commander on Thursday, the latest high-profile abduction in the eastern city of Benghazi where the military has been battling Islamist militants. "He was leaving college when two cars blocked his way and dragged him away," Special Forces commander Col. Wanies Bukhmada told Reuters, describing his son's abduction. More than two years after the revolt that ended the 42-year rule of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's fragile government and nascent army are struggling to control brigades of former rebels and militants who fought in the uprising but have refused to disarm.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials have warned of the potential for catastrophe if Afghan President Hamid Karzai fails to sign a security pact to permit foreign forces to stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014. Unless a deal is reached to enable a modest U.S. force of perhaps 8,000 to stay in the country, the Taliban might stage a major comeback, al Qaeda might regain safe havens and Afghan forces might find themselves starved of funding, the officials say. The post-2014 U.S. force envisioned would train and assist Afghan soldiers and go after the most dangerous militants.

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Gunmen killed two army officers in Benghazi in eastern Libya on Thursday, security sources said, the latest violence in the country's second-largest city despite the deployment of special forces. A captain was shot dead near a mosque, the sources said, and a former air force officer was also killed. When Prime Minister Ali Zeidan visited the port city of one million inhabitants on Monday he vowed to make its security "the highest priority of all priorities".

By Mohammad Anwar KUNAR, Afghanistan, Oct 20 (Reuters) - An Afghan army special forces commander has defected to an insurgent group allied with the Taliban in a Humvee truck packed with his team's guns and high-tech equipment, officials in the eastern Kunar province said on Sunday. Monsif Khan, who raided the supplies of his 20-man team in Kunar's capital Asadabad over the Eid al-Adha religious holiday, is the first special forces commander to switch sides, joining the Hezb-e-Islami organisation.

PARIS (Reuters) - French special forces took part in an operation at an army base in Niger on Friday to flush out Islamist militants suspected of involvement in an attack the previous day, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. At least 21 people were killed and dozens wounded on Thursday in coordinated dawn assaults on a uranium mine run by French company Areva at Arlit and the military base in the city of Agadez in northern Niger. "As I speak, the situation has been brought under control in particular in Agadez, where our special forces have intervened to support Nigerien forces at the request of President (Mahamadou)